Three years ago, Gopinath Munde celebrated his 61st birthday, an important occasion among Maharashtrians. He joked about his close friend from the Congress, Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was present to wish him, he cracked a few witty one-liners about the influence of his wife. He spoke of the isolation he faced within the party and outside because of his “straight-forwardness”. Towards the end of his spe­ech, he said, “I know I am celebrating my 61st birthday...but I will not stop, I will not get tired,” prompting another round of applause. For someone who never really got over his best friend, confidant and brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan’s death in 2006, it may have seemed like the start of a new, brighter phase.

On June 3, after Munde, now 64, died in a freak car accident in New Delhi, Shiv Sena’s Harshal Pradhan was still in shock and finding it hard to believe. One thing he couldn’t get over was a meeting with him a few weeks ago. “I don’t know why he said this was his last election. I said things were getting better and he shou­ldn’t be saying such things. He just said he was easily tired nowadays.” He had survived three accidents, one of which requiring a neck surgery to get him back on his feet. Not one to be cowed down by anyone or anything, be it accidents or political rivals, Munde was known for taking issues head-on and coming out with his head held high. But not this time. “This number, 3, is the worst for the family. Pramodji also died on May 3. Pravin Mahajan also succumbed on a 3rd. And now this,” says a party worker.

Munde, second son of a poor farmer from Nathra village, Beed district, often credited Pra­mod Mahajan for his political career, which he came into “by accident”. Unfo­r­tunately, he was to bear witness to sev­e­ral catastrophic incidents in the Mahajan family. Pramod Mahajan, once touted as a PM-pro­bable in the NDA campaign, was shot by his younger brother Pravin in 2006. It was Munde, who lived in the same building, who rushed him to hospital, holding on to Mahajan as he bled profusely and reportedly asked, “What sin did I commit to deserve this?” Pramod Mahajan battled for his life for 13 days before succumbing on May 3, 2006.

Munde paved the way for Mahajan’s daughter Poonam to contest the Lok Sabha elections this time. Earlier, his own daughter Pankaja had entered the state government as an MLA from Par­ali, his constituency. Both daughters seemed set to follow their fathers’ paths at the state and national level.

Elected with a margin of one lakh-plus votes to the LS this year, he was given the important rural development ministry in the cabinet. After the demise of his good friend Vilasrao Deshmukh and Pramod Mahajan, he was the only “people’s lea­der” or “mass leader” from Marath­wada who could create an impact at the state as well as national level. Nitin Gadkari, now an MP from Nagpur, with whom he shared a hot-and-cold relationship, is now the only senior leader left from Maharashtra in the BJP.

Indeed, Munde came with a unique blend for the party. He was from the Van­jara community, a backward caste. He knew Maharashtra and the pulse of the people, especially the farmers and landless labourers. He was courageous enough to take on any bigwig, even the NCP’s Sharad Pawar and that when he was the Congress CM in 1994. At the same time, he was convivial enough to maintain cordial ties with most parties, big or small. He’s been credited for the grand alliance the BJP-Sena struck with the RPI(A), Swabhimani Shetkari Sangha­tana and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha for this election. And if anyone could have con­vinced Shiv Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray to relent from his chief ministerial ambitions, it would have been Munde. He was confident of their assembly win.

This confidence was not only about the Modi wave or anti-incumbency. It also came from his past campaigns, like back in 1994-95 when he travelled to every corner of the state as part of a ‘sangharsh yatra’ against the then Congress government and its alleged corrupt practices. It landed him a deputy chief ministership later. He is also credited with standing firm behind the Mumbai police in their ‘encounter wars’ on the organised crime syndicates. The stringent MCOCA (Mah­arashtra Control of Organi­sed Crime Act) also came into being during his tenure as state home minister.

Strangely, for a man known to have a handle on agrarian issues like Pawar, he wasn’t able to transform Beed into Baramati, either due to lack of support from the Centre or political will. One of the most backward districts in the state, Beed even today battles challenges like drought, a migrant population working as sugarcane labourers for 4-6 months a year and an abysmal female child ratio.

Some experts say this was his chance to make a solid difference. “He had become the rural affairs minister. He knew what was ailing the farmers in Marathwada. He could have done something,” says a farmer from the region.

It may be too early to talk about the impact of his death on state politics or the assembly polls. Sympathy vote apart, the party will find it hard to replace Munde, who was a face of backward castes in a party that has a Brahminical or upper-caste image. Munde was also a negotiator and a warm link among constantly bickering alliance partners. Warring cousins, Raj and Uddhav Thac­keray, both crucial to state politics, have already declared their ambitions.

At his funeral, the sight of the eldest of his three daughters performing the last rites is going to be etched in the state’s collective memory for long. There’s even some conspiracy talk. RPI leader Ramdas Athavale has demanded a CBI probe into the accident. So have state BJP leaders like Avadhut Wagh. In a tweet, he said, “Mahajan first, then Munde. Is it not a conspiracy to finish Mahajan-Munde family from politics? How such 2 big leaders die unnatural death.” (sic)

And while that question may cloud everyone’s mind right now, there’s one thing everyone is sure about. In the words of Maharashtra BJP chief Deven­dra Fadnavis, “God has not been kind to Gopinathji.” Or to the family.

If you wish your letter to be considered for publication in the print magazine, we request you to use a proper name, with full postal address - you could still maintain your anonymity, but please desist from using unpublishable sobriquets and handles

(1) Shri Munde was a man of masses and knew the state of Maharashtra very well. Problem of the BJP, and for that matter its alliance partner Shiv Sena, is not paucity of leaders with mass support. They are there in almost all regions of the state. But problem is that there are very few leaders who have a very clear understanding of various aspects of the state economy, its place in national economy, nature of fiscal relationship between the Central and State governments and what needs to be done to ensure that all the regions of the state of Maharashtra get their due share in economic growth. One wishes that void created on account of Shri Munde's death is filled soon by a leader with long term vision and good understanding of needs of ordinary people of Maharashtra. (2) Just before the Assembly elections in Maharashtra in 1995, the controversy about the Dabhol Power Project had become had erupted. ShrI Munde had declared that if BJP-Shiv Sena alliance got. Came to power, he would dump the power project in Arabian Sea. Nothing of that sort happened and even today the project still continues to be loss making white elephant. (3) It is just cheap publicity to say that ShrI Munde’s death may be a conspiracy.

We at Outlookindia.com welcome feedback and your comments, including scathing criticism

But:

1. Scathing, passionate, even angry critiques are welcome, but please do not indulge in abuse and invective. Our Primary concern is to keep the debate civil. We urge our users to try and express their disagreements without being disagreeable. Personal attacks are not welcome. No ad hominem please.

2. Please do not post the same message again and again in the same or different threads

3. Please keep your responses confined to the subject matter of the article you are responding to. Please note that our comments section is not a general free-for-all but for feedback to articles/blogs posted on the site

4. Our endeavour is to keep these forums unmoderated and unexpurgated. But if any of the above three conditions are violated, we reserve the right to delete any comment that we deem objectionable and also to withdraw posting privileges from the abuser. Please also note that hate-speech is punishable by law and in extreme circumstances, we may be forced to take legal action by tracing the IP addresses of the poster.

5. If someone is being abusive or personal, or generally being a troll or a flame-baiter, please do not descend to their level. The best response to such posters is to ignore them and send us a message at Mail AT outlookindia DOT com with the subject header COMPLAINT

6. Please do not copy and paste copyrighted material. If you do think that an article elsewhere has relevance to the point you wish to make, please only quote what is considered fair-use and provide a link to the article under question.

7. There is no particular outlookindia.com line on any subject. The views expressed in our opinion section are those of the author concerned and not that of all of outlookindia.com or all its authors.

8. Please also note that you are solely responsible for the comments posted by you on the site. The comments could be deleted or edited entirely at our discretion if we find them objectionable. However, the mere fact of their existence on our site does not mean that we necessarily approve of their contents. In short, the onus of responsibility for the comments remains solely with the authors thereof. Outlookindia.com or any of its group publications, may, however, retains the right to publish any of these comments, with or without editing, in any medium whatsoever. It is therefore in your own interest to be careful before posting.

9.Outlookindia.com is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for how any search engine -- such as Google, Bing etc -- caches or displays these comments. Please note that you are solely responsible for posting these comments and it is a privilege being granted to our registered users which can be withdrawn in case of abuse. To reiterate:

a. Comments once posted can only be deleted at the discretion of outlookindia.com
b. The comments reflect the views of the authors and not of outlookindia.com
c. outlookindia.com is not responsible in any manner whatsoever for the way search engines cache or display these comments
d. Please therefore take due caution before you post any comments as your words could potentially be used against you